Finally we can get the cattle out

It’s finally that time of year when the turnout of cattle can commence, and due to the heavy nature of the soil on our farm, that’s usually around St Patrick’s Day.

To the frustration of many farmers countrywide, this March Ireland resembled a scene from the children’s movie Frozen.

This time of year is welcomed by many farmers, as cattle are going to grass and sheds are emptying means the expensive winter feeding period is drawing to a close.

It is important to get stock out as soon as weather conditions allow. Following the winter, the sward is full of dead grass and requires a tight grazing to stimulate growth, to a height of 3.5-4cm.

Late last week, we decided to let some of our lighter bull calves out to grass. We released them to grass in front of the shed, giving us the option of re-housing them if the weather conditions deteriorated.

As they went to grass hungry, their Cheltenham-style jumping was limited. That evening my father was looking at the sky and made a remark I thought was strange: “The moon is lying on its back, we may have to bring them cattle back in.”

I thought he was having a laugh, or possibly had too many hot whiskies, for medicinal purposes, of course. He was right – the moon was on its back, but I didn’t want to believe him, so I left the new Martin King looking at the moon.

As the weekend ended, the bulls were happy with their new location, although the weather was beginning to worsen. When Monday morning came, the fields were covered in snow.

The weather man was correct with his prediction and his hypothesis regarding the moon was proven. According to old folklore, the moon ‘lying on its back’ can be an indicator that bad weather is on its way: the auld lad makes sense from time to time.

Rehousing stock is less than ideal and to our annoyance we had to rehouse. Letting animals into heavy covers is desirable, but heavy covers of snow won’t help the growth rate.
Following this incident, I won’t be in such a hurry to dismiss advice dished my way.

This week we picked out some heifers to bring to the mart. There is a strong demand for store heifers and the trade in the mart has been red hot in recent weeks.

According to my calculations, I would require a price of €2.50/kg to justify selling now, as opposed to finishing them over the spring and summer months.

Taking the current price in the mart is a sure thing, while hoping for a strong beef price in the summer is a gamble.

It is in my best interests to listen to the advice on this one.